


Something required for house arrest

by Keenir



Category: Norse Mythology, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Iron Man 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-23
Updated: 2013-09-23
Packaged: 2017-12-27 10:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/977547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Pepper said, "Sigyn reminds me of me...particularly where her husband's concerned.  Rather where we were, and where I think we're going to be for a long time, Tony."</i>
</p><p> </p><p> Or...How Pepper gave a home to an exiled couple, and let Tony know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something required for house arrest

**Author's Note:**

> Tiny question...when did the "Norse Mythology" tag become the "Norse religion & Lore" tag?

"You... _gave them_ one of our houses?"

Pepper looks back at Tony, her eyes mild. Once upon a time, she would have leveled a glare at his tone, or raised her eyebrows, or any of several other options she holds in reserve. "And how many do we have, Tony?"

 _Not_ the response he had been prepping for, she can tell, which is part of why she asked it. 

"That's not the point," Tony says.

"Then what is the point?" Pepper asks.

"You gave one of our houses to Loki."

"To Sigyn," she corrects with long-practiced ease; so effortlessly that, had it not been the crux of the matter, Tony might have gone right past it - and nearly did anyway.

"That's what I - Can you walk me through this, Pepper?" Tony asks, sitting down and patting the couch beside him. "So I get _why_ you did it?"

 _I can do that,_ Pepper thinks and comes over and sits where he asked. "She came by earlier, and we got to talking. She reminds me of me...particularly where her husband's concerned. Rather where we were, and where I think we're going to be for a long time, Tony."

"Do I want to know why?"

"Do you remember when you asked me why I stood by you while you were designing and selling death?"

 _Seriously, you're comparing me to Loki?_ "And when I tried growing a spine, you threatened to leave, yeah I remember."

"It wasn't the spine I objected to; it was the way you were trying to martyr yourself while you cleaned up the mess left by you, Stane, and your dad."

Tony frowned. "And that's what you thought of when you talked with Sigyn?"

"I've stayed by you through hell and high water and missiles and some things that I would much rather forget," Pepper said. _You and I know it, which is all that matters. Our few real friends know it too, as do your bosses at SHIELD._ "And when people write up their history reports, what do you think they'll put besides 'Tony Stark's girlfriend, whom he gave control of his company to'?"

"Is that what this is about? Because we talked about that."

"Yes, we did. And no, it isn't about that." _Anyone else, I might say that we're like appendages - Sigyn and I - epilogues to Loki's and Tony's adventures, an extra set of hands to hold up his personality. But Tony wouldn't see why that was offensive - he's so accustomed to DUM-E and JARVIS and all the other servos and mechanical extensions of anywhere Tony Stark lays his head, that he'd think it was a remark about how well we work together, how we're sympatico._ So she raises the point she would have raised after that: "You gave the Avengers a tower. I think we can afford to give her a house."

 _Cost has got nothing to do with it, and I know you know that._ So Tony says, "He tried to take over the planet."

"He's also eighty times older than you, Tony; what do you think you'll be doing at that age?"

"Sitting beside you on Maui's best beach, while Jarvis takes a vacation in McMurdo."

"I approve, sir," Jarvis said, his transistors and superconductors already anticipating that vacation.

Knowing what he was doing, and refusing to be sidetracked by him, "Except, Tony, that I'm not doing this for Loki, and neither should you," Pepper said.

"We're giving Sigyn a safehouse to hide from that bag of squirrels?" Tony asked.

Pepper shook her head. "A retirement home. That was the deal."

"Deal?" Tony asked. _This is another time when I feel like Pepper's two steps ahead of me in the conversation._ "You made a deal?"

"Not this time, no. She made a deal when Thor brought Loki back. The deal was that she gets custody of Loki, in return for finding a place where they would spend the rest of their lives." _Not banishment. Full outright exile._

"Oh _that_ sort of retirement home. And if Loki can't hold up their end of the deal?"

"She put everything on the line, Tony, and Loki knows it - her name, her reputation, everything she has." _Even if you had fired me, before or after you started wearing armor, I'd do the same, and pull you out of any prison you found yourself in. That's sort of how SHIELD found a foothold into our lives, also._

Tony nodded. _If there's one thing I absolutely_ get _, it's the importance of your name. Hell, if I didn't care about the Stark name, would I have been half as worried about all the SI weapons Yinsen showed me in Afghanistan? Maybe half. And reputation...I always knew just how much I could get away with, though that sometimes was more cash than rep._ "We're not doing this for Loki. We're doing this to help Sigyn," Tony agreed. _And if Loki ruins it for her, I will be first in line to kick his ass._ "Did you have any ideas on which mansion we could give them?" Tony asked Pepper.

 _I know you think this is still a bad idea, or at least less bad than you thought it was earlier. So thank you._ "I did."


End file.
